New Life, Lost Love
by hpfann15
Summary: Ron and Hermione have lived a difficult life, whether it was fighting along side their best friend, Harry, or just realizing they love each other. But as Hermione gives birth to their first child, Ron isn't expecting what comes next. R&R! Thanks!
1. Chapter 1: Realization

Chapter One: Realization

As he held her in his arms, he could feel the heat that once filled her body slowly slip from his grasp. Her eyes had closed for the final time hours ago, but he could not find the courage, nor the strength to let her go yet. The healers came in and out of the room, giving him morose looks as each took another peice of equipment that had helped her to cling to life. His eyes had not yet shed tears, as he rocked her lifeless body back and forth.

She just couldn't be gone from him. Five hours before, she had lovingly held his hand in the park, talking about their future together, her warm and tender smile had melted his heart, as it had everytime before.

Then the pains came, and so did the excitement. The moment that they had been waiting for for nine months had finally arrived. Even with all of their planning, he had begun to panic, more so than her.

They drove to the wizarding hospital, each doing their own form of lamaze. The healers rushed her to her birthing room, and he breathed a sigh of relief, knowing everything would be alright.

But it wasn't.

What they didn't know was that throughout her pregnancy, a tumor had grown in the pocket that protected her brain from her skull. The many months of rest and relaxation had held off the effects of the growing problem, but the sudden trauma from the contractions caused her brain to swell and soon kill her. It had taken only a moment, but in that moment, his life had been shattered.

"Excuse me, Mr. Weasley? We have to take her now, the rest of the room is cleaned out, her body is the last thing," said a young healer nervously from the door.

At first, he could not understand the words she had said to him, but he soon realized that it was time. He held her, and kissed her forehead, as she had loved before. Her hair, wet from the beads of sweat that found her forehead during the labor, hung loosely in her face. He wished that, for one more time, her eyes would open, for one more time he could see the love in her warm, forgiving brown eyes.

As if his body had finally realized what his mind had known all along, tears seeped, warm and stinging, from the corners of his eyes. If he had been calm before, it was forgotten, as he allowed his emotions to overcome him. His hands, stained withspots of her precious blood, stroked her hair back from her face trying to revive her for the last time, but her chest did not rise, and her eyes did not open.

"Sir, please, we have to take her," the healer called, for the second or fifth time, he didn't care, " W-wouldn't you like to see your daughter?"

His daughter, she had lived. He had prepared himself for the loss of both of them, but with this news, he knew, something was still right in the world.

"She's alive? I thought- I thought for sure she had d- she was gone with Hermione..." His eyes took another look towards his beautiful wife. He still had a peice of her.

"Would you like to name her," she asked, as a bundle of pink blankets was brought into the room.

He held out his hands for his daughter, and tenderly held onto her with every ounce of love he possessed.

"I wanted to name her Abigale, Hermione hated it, but she finally gave in. She wanted to name her Corynn, I have no idea why, but she loved it."

" Abigale Corynn, I think it's beautiful," the healer choked, her eyes also filled with tears.

"It's perfect," he said, and with a last and final hug, he left Hermione's cold body, and cradling his new daughter in his arms, he left the room. 


	2. Chapter 2: The Waiting Room

Chapter Two: The Waiting Room

In the waiting room, Harry and Ginny, along with the rest of the Weasley clan, sat anxiously, awaiting news of the new addition. Harry had been pacing the halls since he had arrived. His two best friends were in there, bringing their daughter into the world.

Harry and Ginny had already been through this twice. Thier oldest son, Noah, and the newest addition, James, had been a breeze, but then again, it had not been Harry who had given birth to either of them. At least Ron and Hermione's daughter would be James' age, they wouldn't have to go to school alone.

Suddenly the door swung open, and a dishevled Ron came through the door. In his arms he carried a pink bundle, wrapped in his dreaded maroon "R" sweater. Everyone rushed to see the baby and ask how Hermione had done.

"Ronnykins, let me see my precious grandaughter!" Shouted an excited Molly.

"Way to go Ron!" Cheered Fred and George.

"We're so proud son..." Exclaimed Arthur from the back of the group, silent tears sliding down his cheeks.

But only Harry and Ginny could see the absolute sadness behind Ron's tired eyes. His shoulders were stooped, and his pride seemed shattered, tears clinging to his red lashes.

"Ron, what's the matter, how's Hermione?!" whispered Harry, trying to be calm.

Ron's face slid into an even sadder expression, if possible. He was trying so hard to hold in the tears that seemed to be fighting to come out. His throat ached with the saddness he held inside.

"She's gone. She had some sort of a tumor, in her brain. The difficulty of the labor, it...Her brain swelled up and the..." It seemed as though the words were stuck in his throat, he didn't want to admit that she had died.

"Ron, oh Ron, it's alright, we're here for you," cried Ginny, as Molly cradeled the baby, tears pouring from her eyes. Ginny flung her arms around her big brother's neck. Hermione was Ginny's best and only girlfriend. They had done everything together; gone to school, gotten engaged, as well as married, and now, they had been pregnant together. But that was all over.

Fred, George, Arthur, and Harry stood there, shocked at what they had just heard. Hermione? Hermione Granger, dead? She had been one of the strongest young women that any of them had met. She had accompanied Harry and Ron in trying to defeat Voldemort, who was still on the loose, and she had risen to the top of her field as an Auror. The smartest witch of their age had died bringing her precious daughter into the world.

"Well, I expect they're letting you bring...Umm, what's her name, Ron?" Asked Arthur.

"Wha- oh, Abigale, Abigale Corynn Weasley. Hermione loved the name Corynn..." he whispered.

"It suits her. She's beautiful, looks just like her mother," Molly said.

Harry still stood, in shock, of what he had just been told. How could Ron ever look at his daughter again without seeing Hermione in her eyes. How could he go through life knowing that his daughter had been the reason for her death. He couldn't imagine losing Ginny, let alone raising the child responsible.

"How can you raise her without Hermione?" Harry had not meant to say it. He knew that he had to be careful about what he said around Ron, but the question was eating at him.

"Harry! What kind of a question is that!" Yelled Ginny.

"He will, of course have his family," Molly added.

"Yeah, I know that, but, she's the reason Hermione is gone, isn't she. How is Ron going to explain that to her? How is he going to live everyday, seeing the child that Hermione had wanted so badly, and not feel angry towards her? It isn't healthy, when you think about it." Now that he had started, he couldn't help but tell them how he felt.

While the family began to fight about Harry's remark, Ron started to wonder as well. What would he tell his daughter when she wanted to know why her mother wasn't there? That she was the reason her mother couldn't teach her how to ride a broom, or tuck her in at night? She was the only thing that had stood between her father and her mother still being happy together? He couldn't deal with telling a child that she was in fact, a murderer.

"Take her home, Mum, Dad. I'll- I'll be around later to get her." Ron said, walking towards the barrier, and out into the muggle filled street.

"Oh, Ronny... Do you think he will come back Arthur? She's already lost her mother, she can't lose him as well." Molly asked, staring lovingly into the little baby's deep brown eyes.

"Give him time, Mol. He needs to realize the responsibilities he has towards his daughter are more important than the sadness he feels right now. Let's go then..." He said, sounding older than ever before.

Harry didn't know whether Ron would come back or not, but as they headed back towards the burrow, he realized, things weren't ever going to be the same. 


	3. Chapter 3: Birthday Surprise

A/N: I just wanted to let you all know... Dumbledore is not dead, Snape is a good guy, Sirius is not dead, Mad-Eye is not dead, Fred is still alive, Voldemort is still on the loose, and the Malfoys have gone missing. This is all going to be important to the story in one way or another.

Thank you so much for reading! My last story was not turning out to be a success, but hopefully, I will finish it sometime after I finish this one, because I like this one better!

Well, much love everyone!

Hpfann15

Chapter Three: Birthday Surprise

"Abby, come on, walk to Granny! That a girl! Oh Arthur, get your cama-mabob thing over here and take a picha-mawhatzit!" shouted Molly Weasley from the living room of the Burrow.

The entire room was crowded, not only with the family, but many members of the Order, and neighbors who had fallen in love with the little girl. Abby had lived with her father's family for an entire year. Through that year, she had grown rapidly, quickly passing up her older cousin James, Harry and Ginny's bright-eyed little boy, quite chubby for his age.

Her eyes were distinctly her mother's, able to read a person completely, without a word. But her hair, her hair was that of her father's, red as a flame, perfectly and wildly windswept, even in the least windy of conditions. Freckles dotted her face, finding their way from the top of her small forehead to the bottom of her chin. Luckily for their daughter, Abby did not recieve her father's half of the gene pool when it came to her nose, which, like her mother's, started slender, and ended at a cute, button-like point.

Her laugh, though, was her own. It was the kind of laugh that could warm the coldest of hearts. The one thing that Molly had missed the most during the war was laughter in her household. Abby was the answer to all of her prayers. She was instantly loved by even the most cruel and gruesome members of the Order, including, surprisingly, Snape, who was one of her favorites, as well as her godfather.

She found joy in things no one else could, like the way her mother's beloved cat swished the dust bunnies with his tail, or how the garden gnomes thought her little toes were grubs in the garden mud. She giggled before bed, and when the sun peeked into her room in the morning, and her laughter could be heard from the kitchen at all times of the day after a large pile of food would find it's way into her hair.

But the one thing she did not laugh at, the one thing that no one could laugh at, was the picture entitled 'Ronald Billius Weasley', found on Molly's special clock. Since the day they had brought Abigale home, his face had been pointing at 'hopelessly lost'.

It seemed his daughter knew that he had left her behind. She wouldn't cry when she would fall, or when the fence out back by the garden would give her a splinter, but tears would always find her eyes when the small, round picture of her father could be seen.

But today, she was to distracted to see that the small picture of her long lost father had moved to 'traveling'. Today was her first birthday, and everyone had come out to see her.

"Look at how big you've gotten since the last time I saw you!" boomed Charlie as he walked into the crowded gathering space. He picked up little Abby and raised her above his head, making swooshing noises as she flew through the air, "And what pretty little freckles you have my dear! Here, have a birthday present from good ol' Uncle Char!" From his rucksack, he produced a small stuffed dragon, which looked quite like the one Harry had remembered battling in his fourth year.

"Hey, is that a Hungarian Horntail by any chance? Teaching her to love my enemies at an early age, I see!" Harry said from across the room, "Gin, give her our gift, I know she'll love this!"

"All right, all right, let's try to have some kind of organized chaos, just pass me the gifts so that I can catalog them all," shouted Molly, trying to create order in the house.

By the end of the night, Abby had recieved a very wide variety of gifts; a spy-sweeper from Mad-Eye, an engraved snitch from Harry and Ginny, a transforming dress collection from McGonnagol, a morphing mask from Fred and George's new children's collection, a 'Youngster's First Potion Lab' from Snape, a talking voodoo doll from Sirius, a mysterious egg from Hagrid (which Molly took the liberty of throwing out), twenty three different kinds of muggle candies from Dumbledore, Bill and Fleur sent a children's make up kit and a puppy, Lupin, Tonks and Teddy added a sun medallion necklace to the pile, along with many other gifts from the wide variety of other guests.

After a long day of opening gifts and eating cake, little Abby was close to falling asleep in her grandfather's lap.

"Arthur, I think it's time for bed," said Molly, "I'll clear up the house, and make sure everyone apparates home safely, you get Abigale up to bed."

Snape suddenly walked up and held out his hands for the little girl, "I realize that you may not find me the most suitable godparent for Abby, and I also realize that we have not had the best relationship throughout the years, but I would greatly appreciate if you would allow me to bring her up to bed and tuck her in. Please?"

Arthur's jaw dropped, and his first instinct was to say no, but as he looked down at the child in his hands, her hands were out stretched to the man standing across from him, and he knew he wouldn't be able to say no now, "Alright, but don't rile her up, she just started to get off that sugar high."

As Severus and Abby headed up the stairs, her small voice could be heard, "Daddy? Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!"

Everyone left in the room looked up the stairwell. Abby's tiny hands were outstretched towards the front door. A bewildered Snape looked around in confusion, believing the child was calling him her 'Daddy'. But as the family turned to look at what she was so frantically calling for, every mouth in the room dropped. Standing in the once empty doorway was a tall, scraggly man. His bright, windswept red hair hung loosely in his face. He clearly hadn't shaven recently, and his clothing was dirty and torn in places. Freckles littered his face and what was visible of his arms, and his blue eyes were red, from crying or drinking, no one could tell.

"I'm back..." he said, a slight waver in his voice.

"Daddy!" squealed Abigale, breaking free from Snape, and making her way, slowly but surely down the stairs. When she made it to the bottom, she started a full gallop towards her father, giggling the entire way. He bent down to her height, in order for her to wrap her chubby arms around his neck, and he swung her up into his own, once muscular arms. Tears flooded down his face as he held her tightly to his body.

"How could I have let so much of your life slip by without me?" he cried, looking her over from head to toe, "Your already so big, and look at your pretty hair." His voice lost it's rough quality as he talked to his daughter, instead, becoming almost a soft coo.

"Watchin' da clock, Daddy. Abby watchin' da clock fer you," she said, a sparkle in her eyes.

Realization setting in, Molly stared at her son. The anger that she had felt since the day he had left rushing back in full force.

"Where have you been, missing out on your daughter's life for selfish reasons! I cannot believe... I never would have expected this of you! I thought we taught you to take responsibility! Not you Ron! Maybe Fred and George, but not you!"

"Oy, we're right here you know!" shouted George.

"I can't even look at you right now, waltzing in here, uninvited of course. I suppose you were expecting us all to throw another party in your honor, hmm? Well we aren't. She's waited for you since the day that she could lift her head, looking up at that clock every day with tears in her eyes!" her fury seemed only to increase with every word, until finally she snapped, snatching up an old 'Daily Prophet' and flinging herself at him, swinging with blind rage, "Ronald-you-moron! Leaving-your-daughter-alone! YOU-MORON!!"

Rushing to their brother's aid, Fred, George, and Bill, along with Harry, all helped in prying Mrs. Weasley off of Ron.

"This doesn't mean we like you," exclaimed Fred over his shoulder.

"Yeah," chimed in George, "We just didn't want Mum taking it out on the 'Prophet', you see."

Harry only looked back in what seemed like shock, "After one year...? I know what I said was stupid, but I didn't think you would act on it. Yes, I overdid it, I thought it might be too hard to look at a reminder of Hermione every day, and not feel sad. But we've lived here since you left, and she isn't a painful burden... More of a joyful reminder."

"Hermione would hate you right now, Ron. She probably hates me as well... But... Leaving her. I- I can hardly leave in the morning to go to work, and she isn't even my daughter," it seemed as though Harry would join in with the rest of the family in crying as well, but he held strong, "I think that I hate you right now, and I think you should leave," he said, with every head behind him nodding in agreeance.

"Don't I even get a chance to defend myself? I know that walking out was a terrible thing, but I was going to come home that day, I just needed to set things up for taking care of Hermione. I didn't even get to her funeral though, because I was caught by Death Eaters," everyone looked in disbelief at him, Death Eaters, how much more rediculous was his story going to get?

"I was going down Diagon Alley, and of course, they don't have a funeral coordinator on the pleasant side of Diagon, so I had to travel down Knockturn Alley. I got to about the corner where Borgin's is, when a large group of Death Eaters gathered around me. They told me they knew about my daughter and that if I were to escape, they would find you and kill you, all of you. I wanted so badly to come back, but I didn't want to lose the only bit of happiness left in my life."

"They started asking me questions about the Malfoy's disappearance, who had they taken refuge with, what secrets they had told, they suspected them of treason against the Dark Lord. Of course, I haven't been a large part of the Order since Hermione had gotten pregnant and begged me to stop, so I knew nothing of their whereabouts. I told them nothing of our plans and our safe house still lives up to it's name, safe."

"After about three months of interrogations, they finally let me go, somewhere in the middle east. But the muggles there are in some kind of war, so escaping was almost impossible for a couple of months. Finally I was able to find some Arab wizards who were kind enough to apparate me safely to the only place in Europe that they could think of, Hogwarts. I wanted to get back before her birthday, but I couldn't find anyone who knew how to get close enough to home to be here any sooner. I wish I had had my wand..."

"But I did stop and pick up a little something for my Abby. A couple little somethings actually!"

Abby, who had been sitting in Ron's lap on the sofa suddenly perked up.

"Yay!" she screeched, as her father handed her two more presents to add to her pile.

As Abby opened her packages, Ron looked towards his family, "Who picked this git as her godfather, by the way?"

Fred and George burst into laughter as Snape's face curled into a snarl, "Harry did! She was quite smitten with him, actually, from the first day he walked into the place."

"Yeah, but Hermione and I had always planned on Harry and Ginny being his godparents...They were our best friends. Still mine, Harry." He was trying so hard to hold back tears for the second time that night, and he was failing miserably.

"We are, Mum and Dad made us her godparents first, but Sev, well, they're so attatched, we couldn't not make him a godparent as well," said Ginny.

"Thanky Daddy!" said Abby, as she looked over her new astronomy book and broomstick.

"It's what your Mum wanted you to have, a good education, but I always told her," he said, tears now raining down his cheeks, " 'She can be a little of both,' that's what the broomstick is for... I wanted you to play Quidditch, just like me and your uncles."

"Well, I think it's time for bed," said Molly, picking Abigale up and heading towards the stairs, "I'll talk to you some more in the morning Ronald."

"Yes, and I believe I should be leaving as well," added Snape, "Pleasant dreams, my dear."

Abby made sure to scream down the stairs, "Night, Sevvy!"

As people began to file out, soon only Harry and Ron were left standing in the room.

"You look terrible, mate," said Harry, with a laugh, "You really let yourself go, didn't you..."

"Yes, well, if you consider the way you look to be any better. Umm, hey Harry?"

"Yeah Ron?"

"Do you miss her as much as I do?"

"I couldn't miss her more. Things feel so dumbed down without her here."

The two shared a laugh, knowing that somewhere out there, Hermione was watching them, knowing that things were going to get better, in time.

"I love you Harry..."

"I love you too Ron..."

And they each pulled each other into a hug, hoping and praying, they wouldn't ever need it again.

A/N: I would love to hear from you all about what you think of this so far. I know, why the heck were your first two chapters like, half a page and this one is waaaaaaay longer? I cried to much thinking about Hermione dying, that I had to stop writing so much, but this one seemed a little happier.

BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!!

This is a part of the song And So It Goes... By Billy Joel

It really reminded me of this story plot.

And So It Goes, Billy Joel

In every heart, there is a room.  
A sanctuary, safe and strong,  
To heal the wounds from lovers past,  
until a new one comes along...

And so it goes, and so it goes.  
And your the only one who knows.

Love you all!

Hpfann15 


	4. Chapter 4: Many A Garden Walk

Chapter Four: Many a garden walk...

He hadn't been in this room for ages. His mum had still kept all of his Chudley Canon posters up, and his bedspread still had a full flying team, from 1990, but that didn't matter much to him. The same floorboard creeked, and the window still didn't close all the way. It was good to be home.

His parents had added on a couple of magical extensions to the already cluttered house. Harry, Ginny, and their two (soon to be three) children lived in the south end of the house, while Sirius had taken refuge in the family's basement. Fred and George still lived in the house, along with Percy, but with them all having girlfriends (soon to be wives) they didn't spend a whole lot of time at home. Needless to say, the house was even more crowded than before.

Ron layed still in bed, hoping to hear little Abby's breathing from the next room over. He had missed seemingly everything in her life. She had grown up so much. When you've lived long enough, a year begins to seem like nothing, and things don't seem to change that much in a year. But when he came in that door, and saw his red-haired little girl, with her rosey little freckled covered cheeks, and her pretty pink dress and matching shoes, he couldn't believe that was the same little pink bundle of blankets he had left at the hospital that day.

He saw so much of Hermione in her, especially those beloved eyes. Brown, warm, all-knowing, everything he could remember about Hermione's.

Agh! Why couldn't he get her off of his mind. She was all he had thought about, next to Abigale, since he had been away. Whenever he would have time to think, she crept into his mind and filled him with guilt, not only because he had left Abby, but because he had not protected her from dying.

But, when he was alone, her memory comforted him, he had to remember that. She had always been there for him, even now.

What would she think of him leaving? What would she have said to him had she still been alive?

Though his mind was filled with guilt and dispair, he finally fell asleep, but she was in his dreams as well.

_A garden.  
The scent of lilacs filled the air..._

_"Lilacs?"_

_Ron lay confused, on what he thought was his bed._

_"Ron... Ron, come to me..."_

_"Hermione? Hermione!"_

_He was suddenly standing, with no recollection of pulling himself to his feet. He ran to the pleasant voice._

_"Ron, please, I must speak to you!"_

_Her voice seemed so real, almost as if she were still alive. His feet carried him faster and farther than he could ever travel by magic, towards a bright, blinding light. His arms reached towards the warmth of the light, the welcoming of the light._

_And within less than a second, he was embracing someone who seemed so familiar. He held the small frame in his arms, which easily molded to fit the empty space between. The scent of lilacs enveloped him, and a feeling of ease overcame any sense of fear that still lingered._

_"Do you miss me?"_

_"More than you could ever imagine."_

_"Does she miss me?"_

_"She doesn't know about you, Mum thought it was too early."_

_Ron had always imagined heaven being a happy place, void of tears and sadness, but her eyes filled with tears._

_"I miss her. I've been watching her here, all alone."_

_"Then you know I left?"_

_"And I know you lied. That isn't like you."_

_"What was I supposed to tell them, I went and lived at a brothel for five months and was too drunk to find my way home? They would never forgive me. Harry and Ginny would never speak to me again. I need them all."_

_"Is life really that terrible, Ron?"_

_"Without you, yes. You were my joy, and my guiding light, my beacon of hope. I'm so lost."_

_Her eyes looked upon him with guilt and sadness. She was the reason her family had fallen apart. She was the reason her husband sought out love in a whore house, and her daughter was living with relatives, forced to stare at her missing father's picture and cry._

_"I love you, Ron..."_

BRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!

SMMMAASHHH!!

"AGH!! My friggin' head!"

Damn alarm clock! For what seemed like the millionth night in a row, it had interupted his conversation with his deceased wife. He had never been able to say goodbye, it had always just ended with, 'I love you, Ron...' and the damn thing would wake him up.

"Daddy!! Nana's made breakfast, and she says that if you don't get your butt down there Pappap is going to leave without you again," shouted little, well, not so little Abby, up the stairs.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn! Fifth day in a row she's sent me up threats! Tell her I'll be down in a minute will ya, Abs?"

He pulled himself from the sinking matress and slumped his way to the bathroom. Eh, another day, another bruise to add to his collection, he thought, as he looked at the newest bump on his forehead.

He knicked himself while shaving, stubbed his toe on the bathroom sink, and tripped on his way out the door. It just wasn't his lifetime.

"Hey Daddy! Want some toast before you go?" said Abby, as she held out a perfectly buttered and marmaladed slice of toast.

"Yeah, thanks baby! Say, when do you start school," he asked, mouth full of toast and jam, knowing that her eleventh birthday was just around the corner, " Can't wait till you get to meet all my old teachers. Maybe I'll even tell you about all of the misbehaving me and your Uncle Harry got up to in our day, eh?"

"Dad, I've read 'Hogwarts, A History Revised' at least a million times, and that thing practically catalogs in alphabetical order every one of your 'adventures'," she finished, matter of factly.

Ron's face seemed to grow longer with his disappointment. Even his daughter thought he was a worthless bum.

But, noticing his bruised ego, and head, she added, enthusiastically, "But... I'd love to hear them from your point of veiw."

"Great, we can talk after I get back from work. Maybe I'll take you to Diagon Alley as well?"

"Nah, Nana already got all my stuff... But I'd love to go out for supper, if we could?"

"No problem," he said, writing himself a mental note to tell his mother to back off.

And with that, he headed to work. Now, Undersecretary to the Official Secretary of the Assistant to the Head of The Department for Magical Malpractice and Misdiagnosis of Major Mutilations wasn't Ron's first choice in a job, actually, it was his last, but it still brought home the money he needed to put Abigale in a muggle school while she waited for her acceptance into Hogwarts, and it also paid for the little bit of rent his parents expected from him every month or so.

The past ten years had gone by pretty much the same everyday.  
Ron gets woken up by screaming mother,  
Ron eats meager breakfast, unlike the rest of the house,  
Ron goes to work for incredibly evil boss,  
Ron comes home, ready for hours, sometimes even days of sleep.  
Lather, rinse, repeat.

Let's just say things were pretty boring.

But today, today was different. Though his mind was on many different things, mainly the dream, he still couldn't help but realize that today things had changed in his favor, at least after this morning.

As he walked through the fireplace, along with the rest of his dreary co-workers, Ron noticed a woman standing in the opposite fireplace from him. Her hair was the first thing that had caught his attention, a sandy brown bush of hair, a mass of tangled curls, it cascaded down her back, and as she turned, his heart skipped more than just one beat. Her eyes were so familiar, literally those of an angel. He remembered seeing them everyday of his Hogwarts career, he remembered the last day that he had seen them, the day they closed for the last time, and now here they were, staring at him, big and brown as ever.

He was too lost in thought to realize that she was walking towards him. His jaw, which had been hanging open, instinctively closed, as she neared.

"Hermione?" he spluttered out.

"Excuse me? No, I think you are thinking of someone else. I noticed you from across the room and I couldn't help but think I've met you somewhere before. I'm Nelly, but you can call me Nel," she said, as she extended her hand for him to shake.

But instead of reaching out and greeting her as any other proper human being would, Ron, being overwhelmed by his emotions, wrapped his arms around her and planted the longest kiss he could muster onto her unsuspecting lips. Her arms flailed about as he tried to create a more passionate kiss between the two.

Finally, she managed to push him off. Catching her breath, she managed to spit out, "Well, I never!" And she stomped off.

He watched her walk through the doors that led to the elevator, and he couldn't help but wonder, 'Who was this woman, who looked, sounded, and acted so much like his beloved Hermione, even kissed like her? Was she some sort of resurection, or was it pure coincidence.'

All he knew was that he had lost his chance at ever knowing. He had kissed her, and now she would never come back.

But he wasn't going to stop until he found her, and apologized.

He had to figure this out.


	5. Chapter 5: Reincarnation

Chapter Five: Reincarnation, fact or fiction?

"I couldn't believe it when I first saw her, I thought I was hallucinating, but then she came up to me. Her name was Nelly, I guess, but I've never seen her before. Her hair, her mouth, her smile, her eyes. Mum, everything was the same as I remembered. Even the birth marks that dotted her face. She's still just as perfect..."

"Ron, it wasn't her."

"I'll get her to come here for dinner, then you can see for yourself. Oh, your jaw will be on the floor mother, the floor..."

"It isn't her, Hermione died eleven years ago. You were there."

"Mum, her voice was even Hermione's! I've never heard of reincarnatin being true, never believed it could be, actually, but I know that was her. I just know it. She said that I looked familiar. How could she know who I was if she weren't her?" Ron explained. His mother looked at him dumbfounded. Her son was a raving lunatic, not that she hadn't already suspected it.

"Ronald, I will not say it again. You have to get over her for the sake of Abigale. She can't go through life in the shadow of her mother. How can she live up to your perfect deceased wife? Ron, this is all too much, I think that you need some sleep," she said, rubbing her temples in frustration, "We all need some sleep."

Ron had brought up Hermione everyday lately, and the entire Weasley family just wanted to move on. Her presence seemed more of a nuisance than anything, now. At first, she was brought up only in secret, in order to allow Abby to have a normal childhood, but Ron wouldn't let his daughter go through life without knowing her. So, against Molly's better judgement, she reluctantly told her grandaughter all about her adored mother.

Suddenly, as if she was being chased through the yard by a pack of ravonous wolves, Abby came to a screeching halt in front of her grandmother, holding a squiggling, dirty garden gnome, who, like George and Fred had taught it, was swearing like a sailor. "Nana, can I keep this gnome. He really does like me, and Pappap, Uncle George, and Uncle Fred said that I could as long as it was okay with you. Please, Nana, please?" She gave her grandmother the famous pouty lip, the one no one could resist. Except, of course, Molly.

"Abigale Corynn Weasley, you march right out to that garden and you put that gnome back. Then you scramble your little butt on in here and help me peel some potatos for dinner."

"But Nana-"

"No 'but Nana' to me. I know all of your tricks young lady, and unfortunatly for you, I am not a boy. Now, scatter!"

As Abby ran off, Ron looked to his mother in frustration, "She's my daughter you know. And what I say goes, and I think that she should be allowed to keep the critter if she wants to so bad."

"Oh, honestly, the only time you want to play a role in her life is when it doesn't involve making a life altering decision. I've taken care of her her whole life, and now all of a sudden you choose to be her father? I don't think it's going to work that way," she said, hands placed on her hips in a matter-of-fact way.

Ron's face gave a look of pure hatred. It seemed he had reached his boiling point with her. First she didn't believe that he had seen his wife, and now he was being told he was a terrible parent. Well this was it.

"You have always run my life! You ruined everything I could have had with Abby, and you've never allowed me to be her father. How am I supposed to grow up and be a man when you've always been there, making sure I do every little thing right? And, you never believe me. I told you this girl is Hermione, and all I hear is that I'm dragging everyone through the mud with this! Well, mother dearest, I will prove you wrong," Ron screamed, breathing heavily in frustration and fury. Just as he reached the peak of anger, the family, along with some key members of the Order began to file in, as well as Abigale, "You can't see Abby anymore, you can't control me as a parent, and you can't tell me that I'm wrong all the time. I'm taking my daughter, and I'm finding a place of my own, tonight!" He whipped around, and with a ferocious look on his face, simply pointed to Abby, and then up the stairs to her room.

She quickly got the point, and with tears in her eyes, she bolted up the stairs. Everyone in the room stood with mouths wide open. Ron had never raised his voice towards his mother, let alone full on scream at her. Why the sudden change? But Molly, who was trying to maintain her composure, motioned for everyone to sit. And with one last fleeting glance up the stairs towards her youngest son, she turned and continued to prepare the meal.

Upstairs, a much calmer Ron decided to explain to his daughter why they had to leave the only home she had known. But as he glanced in the doorway, he saw her slumped over her desk chair, speaking to a portrait of Hermione that Ron had had done only weeks before her passing.

"Mum, I know that Dad is lonely without you, but he's not like you told me he was. He's always frustrated or upset. And he never does things with me when he says he will."

"Your father has always been a bit pig-headed about things, and now, he's just a little lost."

"Yeah, but, why is he taking me away from my family. Nana, and Pappap, Fred and Harry, George, Ginny, James, Noah, Lily. I love them all so much, and I can never see them."

"You'll see them. The one thing about Ron is he can't live too long without seeing or talking to his family, they're to closely knit, like one of Nana's sweaters."

They both laughed, but Abby still had tears in her eyes.

"Mum, I just want so badly for you to be here for Daddy. He misses you. I can hear him cry in his sleep. He needs you, Mum, he needs you."

"I know that. Why do you think I reincarnated myself. I knew that I wouldn't be alive much longer before you were born, so when your father wanted to get our pictures painted, I did a little bit of magic in order to be there for him when he needed me the most."

"You're alive! Why aren't you here with me then? How come you haven't found Daddy yet?"

"Baby, that's the thing. The new me doesn't remember a thing about my past life. She has to relearn everything. That means that you have to find her, and help her to become a part of the family. When she does that, she will be like me again. Actually, she will be me again. But you need to help her."

"Where is she?"

"She could be anywhere, I don't know specifically."

"Well then I have to search for her, I have to go now!"

"Darling, there's more. You have to get your father to marry her before the new year. This is your eleventh year alive, is it not?"

"Yeah, but why the end of this year, why don't we have more time?"

"The spell only works for eleven years, then she will find another true love, and I'll never come back."

"I'll find you, Mum. I'll find you, and then we can be a family again, we can be a family, like before I was born. When you were happy."

"We are happy, Abigale. Don't ever think that we weren't happy having you."

"I love you.

"I love you to, but you have to go now, you're father is waiting."

"Alright."

Abigale turned around, and jumped. Ron stood in the doorway. He looked at her with the largest, stupidest grin she had ever seen on her face.

"She's alive, Dad."

"I know baby. I've already found her." 


End file.
